WXYZ-TV to expand with new studio in the heart of downtown Detroit inside Chase Tower

9:51 AM, Aug 28, 2014

9:20 AM, Aug 29, 2014

Channel 7 Vice President and General Manager Ed Fernandez and Station Manager Mike Murri talk about the new studio we're putting in Campus Martius in the Qube.

WXYZ

Channel 7 expands with downtown studio

WXYZ

WXYZ will be opening a news studio in Dan Gilbert's The Cube in Campus Martius.

WXYZ

7 Action News introduces new downtown Detroit studio.

WXYZ

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Sixty-six years after WXYZ-TV Channel 7 flickered to life on TV sets across southeast Michigan from its first Woodward Avenue studio in Detroit, the station is expanding its operations with a new, highly visible studio in the heart of downtown.

The glass-enclosed, outward-facing studio will be located inside the ground-floor lobby of Chase Tower at 611 Woodward Avenue.

When the new WXYZ street-side studio opens this fall, with stunning views of Woodward Avenue and Campus Martius Park, it will be the home of 7 Action News at Noon with JoAnne Purtan. The studio will also quickly become a familiar sight in other WXYZ Channel 7 and TV20 Detroit programming, as well as both stations' digital platforms.

"This is a historic step in our mission to be the best station in Detroit and the best station for Detroit," said WXYZ-TV Vice President and General Manager Ed Fernandez.

"This studio will give 7 Action News viewers an exciting front-row seat to the city's incredible rebirth and allow us to connect in meaningful new ways with people making a difference and guiding Detroit's transformation," Fernandez said.

WXYZ's first TV broadcast took place on October 9, 1948 from its studios inside the Maccabees Building located in Detroit's midtown. The station's main studios will remain in Southfield, where they have been since the late 1950s.

"WXYZ has always led the way in metro Detroit and the TV industry," said WXYZ Station Manager Mike Murri. "This studio is an exciting new chapter in our growing news programming. Located in the epicenter of downtown, this studio will give us tremendous access to the people that live and work in the city and to the region's newsmakers," he said.

The design of the new WXYZ downtown studio will honor the mid-century modern architecture of the Chase Tower. The building was designed by the Detroit-based architecture firm, Albert Kahn Associates, and opened in 1959. The 14-story building occupies a full city block adjacent to Campus Martius Park.